KHARTOUM, 19 December 2003 — Sudanese officials have imposed a curfew in two western states after peace talks aimed at ending an escalating conflict in the western Darfur region collapsed, a Sudanese newspaper reported yesterday.
Two main rebel groups launched a revolt in the arid region in February. Analysts say the Darfur conflict threatens an impending peace deal now being negotiated in Kenya to end two decades of civil war in the south of Africa’s largest country.
One rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army, signed a truce with Khartoum in September, but talks failed this week with both sides blaming each other. The second group, the Justice and Equality Movement, has not signed a truce or begun talks with Khartoum.
The independent Al-Sahafa paper said Osman Kebir, governor of Northern Darfur, had imposed a curfew throughout his state, one of three in the remote Darfur region bordering Chad. Kebir told Reuters the order was not new and had been effective since April because of “ongoing security problems”, but declined to comment further.
Al-Sahafa also said the governor of Southern Darfur state, Adam Hamid Musa, on Tuesday imposed a similar curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. in the state capital Nyala. Rights group Amnesty International said the Darfur conflict had displaced more than 600,000 people and a major cause of the troubles had been injustice and marginalization, reasons both rebel groups cite for their revolt.
“While the prospects for peace have been feted in Khartoum and the south, in Darfur the life and safety of civilians are being held hostage by government forces, militias and armed opposition groups,” Amnesty said in a statement yesterday.
“Unless these basic human rights are seriously addressed it will be difficult to have a lasting peace,” it said. It added that the Khartoum government had bombed Darfur villages and government-aligned militias were devastating rural areas with “total impunity”.
The government of Darfur State on Wednesday announced a statewide mobilization “among all sectors of the people” in preparation for confronting any rebel threat against the state’s security, SUNA news agency said.
The official news agency quoted Kebir as saying the authorities have begun holding public mobilization rallies to enlighten people on the situation and on the need to prepare for confronting any development.
Reporting from Nyala, capital of South Darfur State, Al-Sahafa said Gov. Adam Hamid Mussa instructed the state authorities to be on the alert for repulsing any attack by the armed rebels. Gen. Mussa on Wednesday issued strict orders to the commissioners of the state’s seven localities to be ready to stand up to any security threats by the SLM which he said had undermined the talks in Chad.
Meanwhile, the European Union will fully normalize ties with Sudan and resume development cooperation when a peace agreement is signed between the government and rebels in the south, an EU delegation said yesterday.
The EU delegation, led by Italian Foreign Ministry official Alfredo Mantica, made the pledge at the end of two days of talks with Sudanese officials as part of the EU-Sudan political dialogue that resumed in 1999.
Mantica, quoting a joint statement, told a press conference that both sides reviewed how much progress the Sudanese government has made in 2003 on efforts to end the civil war and further democratization, freedoms and human rights.
